Africa-Press – Gambia. Hon. Fatou Cham, the National Assembly Member for Sannehmentering Constituency, has expressed strong criticism over the selection process of a parliamentary committee tasked with investigating the sale of assets belonging to the former president.
Speaking during a session on Thursday, Hon. Cham denounced the composition of the committee, citing a lack of gender balance and alleging partisan bias in its formation.
Cham joined several other lawmakers in voicing concerns about the underrepresentation of women, asserting that the current makeup of the committee does not uphold the principles of gender equality.
“It is not gender balanced at all. Don’t we have women in this parliament? Don’t we have equal rights as men in this parliament, and don’t we have women in this country whom we, the women and men, are representing? I think this is not fair to the women of this parliament,” she said.
She urged the selection committee to adopt a more inclusive and intentional approach in future deliberations.
“We have our rights to represent our people equally as men are representing their people in this parliament. So when we are doing such things we need to be very observant; we need to be very cognizant of the way we do our selection,” she said.
Citing the gender imbalance alone, she announced her refusal to support the proposed list of committee members.
“This is a warning for the selection committee; next time let them look into that, and based on that alone, I reject this selection,” she said.
Hon. Cham further criticized the committee’s partisan composition, stressing that National Assembly Members are representatives of the nation—not political parties.
“We are not here for a party; we are here as a country; we are here as representatives of various constituencies in this country,” she said.
She noted that a disproportionate number of members on the committee belong to a single political party, a move she described as undermining the principle of fair representation.
“This list cannot be partisan. We are not here to be partisans in this parliament. But this list is partisan; we have four members from the same party and three others from different parties. We are not here for that. We are not here to joke. I am not saying any other person is joking here. But we are not here to joke. Let us all remember that,” she said.
Cham concluded by reaffirming the equal status and rights of all National Assembly Members, whether elected or nominated.
“We have 53 elected members in this country, in this parliament plus five nominated members who are equally represented in the country; they have all rights as we have rights,” she said.
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